Abortion juggernaut Marie Stopes International is being investigated in Kenya for allegedly advertising abortion on demand on two African radio stations.

“This is ongoing despite the Kenya Film Classification Board placing a ban on all abortion advertisements,” wrote Daniel Yumba, chief executive officer of the country’s Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board, in a letter.

“The said advertisements not only contravene the provisions of Article 26 of the Constitution of Kenya (2010) but they are also contrary to the Medical Practitioners and Dentists (Advertising) Rules, 2016,” he wrote.

The country’s medical board was planning to hold an inquiry on Wednesday, November 7 into Marie Stopes International’s alleged violation of the laws surrounding the advertising of abortion services in Kenya. Marie Stopes is alleged to have advertised abortion services on Radio Africa’s Capital FM and Classic FM stations.

This inquiry comes in the wake of a campaign by pro-lifers, including an online CitizenGOAfrica petition that gathered 5,180 signatures, to get the Kenyan government to stop the abortion clinic from advertising abortion and offering its services in Kenya.

“It is evident that the chain of clinics offers abortions even when this is illegal in a record 52 African countries out of 54,” claims the CitizenGO petition. “In Kenya, they have put on very suggestive adverts asking youths to give them a call in case they get pregnant as they ‘have a solution to the pregnancy.'”

“Though cunningly crafted, Marie Stopes (is) advertising abortions and (is) known for (its) abortions and every time a woman gets into their clinic pregnant and with some little cash, they leave the clinic without their pregnancy,” claims the petition.

“Kenyan women and youth are now becoming a victim of the bloodthirsty clinics who are now even advertising abortions in the streets of Nairobi and other rural areas and are very angry that this is happening while it can be stopped,” it states.

Organizers of this petition are asking their country’s equivalent of a health minister, Cabinet Secretary for Health Sicily Kariuki, to ban Marie Stopes from operating in Kenya. They also want the organization’s managers to be brought to court on charges.

In September, the abortion giant was banned by the Kenya Film and Classification Board from running an ad promoting abortion on radio. According to the film board’s chairman, Ezekiel Mutua, the ad was specifically targeting teenage girls and offering them “alternatives for unwanted or unplanned pregnancies.”

The board told Marie Stopes to pull the ad and issue a public apology for airing it without having submitted it for examination and classification.

It wasn’t the first time Marie Stopes had been caught advertising illegal abortion services in Kenya. Last year, the organization ran Facebook ads telling women “even if your boyfriend refuses to take responsibility for your pregnancy, do not worry, we got you.”

In Kenya, abortion is illegal except in cases were the mother’s life is deemed to be in danger.

Pro-lifers there are working and praying hard to ensure the sanctity of life in their country is respected. During the 40 Days for Life in Nairobi from September 26 to November 4, young people lined the street in front of the Marie Stopes headquarters in that country and prayed that, “with God’s help, this will mark the beginning of the end of abortion in our city – and beyond.”

In October, pro-lifers in Kenya also sent thousands of letters to British Prime Minister Theresa May and High Commissioner to Kenya Nic Hailey, asking them to take back foreign aid money given by the British government for abortion in Kenya.

]]>http://gatewaynews.co.za/kenya-investigates-marie-stopes-for-breaking-advertising-laws-pushing-abortion/feed/064080Up to a million Christians took part in Life Chains around world on October 7http://gatewaynews.co.za/up-to-a-million-christians-took-part-in-life-chains-around-world-on-october-7/
http://gatewaynews.co.za/up-to-a-million-christians-took-part-in-life-chains-around-world-on-october-7/#commentsWed, 10 Oct 2018 07:46:57 +0000http://gatewaynews.co.za/?p=63603

Pro-lifers participating in the recent Life Chain in East London.

Global pro-abortionists proclaimed September 28 as an annual International Safe Abortion Day. In contrast to the almost 1 600 Life Chains held globally on, or near, to October 7, pro-abortionists could only muster a handful of protests on September 28.

Up to a million Christians worldwide took part in the various Life Chains this October 7, International Life Chain Sunday. A National March for Life, organised by the National Alliance for Life, took place in Umhlanga, Durban, with about 1 800 marching.

About 80 Christians formed a Life Chain to proclaim the sanctity of life in Cape Town last Sunday. The Life Chain in Cape Town took place on the centre island of Buitengracht Street (near the entrance to the Waterfront). Life Chains also took place in Bloemfontein and East London.

The Life Chain is an international prayer rally and peaceful placard protest against the abortion holocaust.

Cape Town life chain.

The Christian Action Network estimates the number of babies killed by legal abortions since 1997 to be well over 1 500 000. The number of legal abortions is believed to be higher than the official figure due to outstanding statistics from some provinces in previous years and a possible failure of some hospital officials to accurately record abortions in state hospitals.

Illegal abortionists operate with impunity in virtually every city and town in South Africa due to the failure of police and city officials to investigate or make any arrests. The Department of Health estimated that there are 38 illegal abortions per 1 000 women (report in Sowetan Live, June 12 2012).

The Christian Action Network urges pro-lifers to lay charges against illegal abortionists at their local police station. A form detailing how illegal abortions violate both the Termination of Pregnancy Act and Medicines Act has been drafted for this purpose and can be downloaded here.

Pro-life groups uphold the sanctity of life – that every life is valuable to God. Over 70 crisis pregnancy centres, mothers homes and baby homes across South Africa provide women with loving alternatives and practical support, not just one choice – abortion – that pro-abortionists coerce women into choosing. Doctors for Life and many other Christian groups each care for hundreds of orphans.

Since 1987 Life Chains have been held in the USA, and since 1992 Africa Christian Action has organised Life Chains in South Africa. This was the 27th Life Chain held in Cape Town.

The founder of euthanasia advocacy group Dignity SA was in court on a charge of premeditated murder in connection with the death of Anrich Burger in Cape Town in 2013 in an alleged assisted suicide after he became quadriplegic following a motor car accident.

The court granted Davison bail of R20 000, with strict conditions restricting him from leaving the Western Cape without permission or contacting any witnesses. He is due back in court on November 16.

State advocate Megan Blows told the court yesterday that new information obtained by the state suggested that Davison may have committed murder in a similar fashion on more than one occasion.

Davison, a New Zealand-born biotechnology professor who lives in Cape Town with his wife and three children, told the court in a statement that he had not committed any offence.

In 2011 he was sentenced to 5 months house arrest in New Zealand for assisting his cancer-stricken, 85-year-old mother to die.

Davison is also president of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies which held its 22nd biennial conference in Cape Town a fortnight ago, drawing together pro-euthanasia doctors, politicians and civil society organisations.

In 2015, in a case with which Dignity SA was closely associated, the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ruled that terminally-ill Cape Town advocate Robin Stransham-Ford, 65, had the right to commit suicide with a doctor’s help.

The following year, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) overturned the High Court’s order, citing flaws in that ruling — including the fact that Stransham-Ford died two hours before the order was granted, as a result of his cancer. The SCA said right-to-life issues should be determined in parliament.

The SCA ruling was welcomed by Christian groups opposed to euthanasia. Doctors For Life which testified as an amicus curiae for the state, said at the time: “Legalising physician-assisted suicide would have created a legal precedent that would have led to floods of euthanasia contagion. The judgement will serve to protect the sick, the aged and the vulnerable in SA who are the ones who would be most harmed through such a law.”

Dignity SA meanwhile is pursuing the legalisation of assisted dying and has joined Dr Sue Walter, who has been diagnosed with terminal multiple myeloma, as well as Dieter Harck, who has terminal motor neurone disease, as a plaintiff in an action instituted in September 2017 to the Gauteng Division of the High Court in which they are calling for the legalisation of euthanasia for consenting patients.

The pro-euthanasia campaign has also been taken to parliament with the release of the “Advance Health Care Directives” Private Member’s Bill, by COPE MP Deidre Carter in August.

Alerting pro-life Christians to the Bill and to the fact that there will be opportunities for the public to make submissions, Africa Christian Action’s Taryn Hodgson said legal euthanasia puts the lives of the elderly, terminally ill and those with disabilities under threat.

The pro-euthanasia lobby claims that the vulnerable would not be targeted, however evidence from countries where euthanasia is legal, such as the Netherlands and Belgium, shows that thousands of patients have been euthanised without their consent by nurses or doctors, she said.

With an estimated 250 pre-born babies killed by abortion in South Africa daily, Christians are urged to stand for life by participating in either the National March for Life in Durban or a life chain in Cape Town, East London or Bloemfontein.

Sunday October 7 is International Life Chain Sunday, a day on which pro-life Christians in SA join pro-life believers around the world in protesting against abortion. As many as a million Christians in approximately 1 600 locations worldwide have previously participated in life chains (peaceful prayer and placard protests against abortion).

The National March for Life is organised by the National Alliance for Life (NAL), an affiliation of pro-life churches and organisations.

The Christian pro-life stance, that abortion is murder, is based on the fact that the Bible and medical science make clear — life begins at conception.

Rejecting informed consentDevelopments in parliament this year have not been encouraging for pro-lifers.

On May 9 the Parliamentary Health Portfolio Committee’s formally rejected ACDP MP Cheryllyn Dudley’s Private Member’s Bill to Amend the CTOP (Abortion) Act. This Bill would have stopped some abortions and saved some mothers lives by providing for ultrasounds and informative, mandatory counselling for all women considering abortion.

It is interesting to note the pro-abortion bias of the Parliamentary Health Portfolio Committee in rejecting the Bill. Their report stated that routine pre-abortion ultrasounds can “bias the content of counselling (which should be non-directive)” and “put pressure on the woman to change her decision, by facilitating feelings of guilt”. In other words, they were saying that many women choose not to have an abortion after seeing their pre-born baby’s developing body on the screen.

It should be noted that non-directive counselling is actually, by default, pro-abortion counselling, because not to explain the reality of the development of the baby in the womb and the physical and psychological risks of abortion for the mother, is to deliberately lie,

Promoting euthanasia
A Bill that would also exacerbate the culture of death in South Africa was released in August by COPE MP Deidre Carter. Carter’s euthanasia or “Advance Health Care Directives” Private Member’s Bill, if accepted by Parliament, would be a stepping stone to legalising euthanasia.

Carter’s euthanasia Bill was pushed by pro-euthanasia lobby Embrace Dignity. Carter also spoke at their International Federation of Right to Die Societies Conference September in Cape Town last week.

The deadline for comment on the first draft of the Bill was August 22, but there will be further opportunity to make submissions.

Sanctity of life
Both euthanasia and abortion target the weak and defenceless. Legal euthanasia puts the lives of the elderly, terminally ill and those with disabilities under threat.

The pro-euthanasia lobby claims that the vulnerable would not be targeted, however evidence from countries where euthanasia is legal, such as the Netherlands and Belgium, shows that thousands of patients have been euthanised without their consent by nurses or doctors.

Pro-life groups uphold the sanctity of life – that every life is valuable to God, from conception to natural death. More than 70 crisis pregnancy centres, mothers’ homes and baby homes across South Africa provide women with loving alternatives and practical support, not just one choice – abortion – that pro-abortionists often coerce women into choosing.

Doctors for Life and many other Christian groups each care for hundreds of orphans.

Stand for life
Abortion is also the violation of the most basic constitutional right – the right to life of the pre-born. When a nation devalues it’s most helpless and innocent citizens and allows them to be slaughtered in their millions, it is no wonder that all other life is treated as cheap.

It is an urgent priority for the Church to expose, oppose and end this mass killing of children made in the image of God.

Pro-life sidewalk counsellors may continue praying, preaching and handing out literature in front of a Queens, NY, abortion centre, a federal judge ruled on July 20.

The case began last June when former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman filed suit, charging the counsellors with harassment, physical obstruction and threats of violence against women seeking abortions at Choices Medical Clinic and the volunteers escorting them to the door. Schneiderman’s office carried on with the lawsuit after his resignation in May over sexual assault allegations.

“To the contrary, the record as a whole suggests that the defendants have endeavoured to toe the line between lawful and unlawful conduct,” US District Judge Carol Bagley Amon wrote in a 103-page opinion. She refused to grant a preliminary injunction against the 13 counsellors.

“We thank the Lord that our life-affirming work to counsel women considering abortion was upheld in federal court,” Kenneth Griepp, senior pastor at the Church at the Rock in Brooklyn, said in a statement. He noted that the group of sidewalk counsellors “will continue to offer compassion to those who see abortion as the only way out of an unexpected pregnancy.”

Martin Cannon, attorney with the Thomas More Society, argued in court that the suit violated the sidewalk counsellors’ First Amendment rights. He said the state’s accusations of force or threats of force were based on incidents initiated by the facility’s volunteer escorts. When a counsellor struck up a conversation with a woman on her way to the door, a group of escorts would crowd the woman away from the pro-life advocate. That produced incidental brushing of shoulders and other interactions, but not harassment.

Thomas More Society special counsel Martin Cannon (left) represented Pastor Kenneth Griepp of the Church at the Rock. (PHOTO: Thomas More Society)

“The sidewalk counsellor is still trying to call out to her, maybe trying to hand her a pamphlet. That’s what’s supposed to be this harassment,” Cannon said. The pro-lifers, he said, “are out there just to offer assistance to women. And it’s not just empty words. They have little babies running around in their church and in their homes that have sprung from that sidewalk. They really put their money where their mouth is, and they don’t harass people.” Cannon added, “The case was an abuse of the rights of peaceful New York citizens.”

Amon tossed out much of the state’s evidence and several testimonies, calling them “unreliable.” The lawsuit claimed that counsellors Ranville Thomas and Ronald George, both affiliated with the Church at the Rock, had threatened volunteer escorts with death. The attorney general’s office quoted them saying, “You never know when you’re going to die.”

But “after years of sharing the sidewalk with Thomas and R George,” Amon wrote, the abortion centre escorts understood that the counsellors were urging them to repent, not making threats, and were not genuinely intimidated. The judge attributed the shoulder-bumping and jostling caught on camera to the “escorts often outnumbering the protesters two to one” on the sidewalk.

The state could appeal the decision, but Cannon said it will prove difficult because Amon ruled based on a lack of evidence rather than law.

“Planned Parenthood nationwide, all of the pro-abortion attorney generals nationwide were watching this case,” he said. “If Schniederman had succeeded, you’d see these brazen efforts at distorting law pop up against counsellors on the sidewalk everywhere in the country. So it’s a very significant case.”

Last week the government (Department of Social Development) and several pro-abortion organisations hosted a five-day international conference with the ominous name of “Abortion and Reproductive Justice: The Unfinished Revolution” at Rhodes University in Grahamstown.

The gathering of 285 delegates from 26 countries, whose “unfinished revolution” is about making legal abortion-on-demand more accessible and socially acceptable all over the world, was arranged without much fanfare, catching pro-lifers slightly off guard. But a number of Christians in Grahamstown and from elsewhere in South Africa who value the sanctity of life, scrambled to make a stand for life during the event.

Out-of-towners included Peter Throp of Value Life, from Cape Town, who parked his “pro-life mobile” which is covered in pro-life slogans and scriptures, outside the conference venue daily, and a five-man team from Family Action SA, who travelled from Ladismith, Western Cape, to pray and protest peacefully outside the venue.

Bernard Tuffin.

Family Action SA mission
Bernard Tuffin, project manager of Family Action SA filed this report: “The proposed abortion conference in Grahamstown was already attracting attention toward the end of 2017. At the time we sent out some feelers regarding possible protest action, but with the pace of life as it is and so many other issues, it slipped off the radar screen. It was also clearly not being aggressively promoted by the organisers which would have certainly kept it in the public eye! It was then with much concern and misgiving that we suddenly became aware that this abomination was upon us…

“What to do? There are so many Christian organisations in South Africa, but our voices are just not being raised, or perhaps not heard. At moments like this that profound maxim rises up before one — ‘we were not born to fit in, but to stand out!’

“It was with this in mind and the conviction that we could not be idle in the face of the ‘culture of death’ being so brazenly and boldly professed, that on 9 July, a five-man team from Family Action South Africa took the road from Ladysmith to Grahamstown. Their mission: a public rosary rally and peaceful protest against the international “Abortion & Reproductive Justice: The Unfinished Revolution III” Conference being held at Rhodes University from the 8th to the 12th of July.

“The goal of the Family Action SA mission was threefold: to make a public act of reparation to Almighty God for this stain on our land, to pray for the frustration of the conference’s goals and for increased resistance from the various sectors where the abortion lobby is meeting opposition/inertia/rejection. In addition, we sought to pray for the mercy of God upon our country, make the public aware of the seriousness of the conference and give some fraternal support to others in the trenches – in this case notably, Peter Throp of Value Life, who himself had courageously taken the long road (870km) to Grahamstown.

”Hoot for the Unborn’
“Armed with an assortment of classic ‘sidewalk placards’, we sought an ideal spot to be seen and heard! ‘Hoot for the Unborn’, ‘Women Need Love, Not Abortion’, ‘Real Doctors don’t kill Babies’, ‘Abortion stops a Beating Heart’ and ‘Abortion offends God’, were some of our attention-getters.

“We finally established ourselves at a crossroads close to the venue, strategically positioning ourselves with the various placards. We simultaneously unfurled our three-metre wide rosary banner inviting the public to join our prayer effort. We were also joined by Peter for this action.

“The weather was perfect and the response was very encouraging to say the least. The rally lasted for an hour and a half during which time there were over 200 hoots! It is not often that one appreciates and enjoys the discordant sound of hooters! But this was music to the ears!

“In fact, I was encouraged and pleasantly surprised by this unusual manifestation of support for the plight of the unborn. And this was in a time of relatively mild traffic flow… This type of manifestation is common in America but here in South Africa we do not have a culture of such protest action, so it was interesting to gauge the level of support for life – which the media narrative would have us believe to be irrelevant.

Enthusiastic public support
“There were enthusiastic and vibrant reactions of support from passers-by and motorists alike. One lady walked past making a hoot motion with her hand and said: ‘I’m hooting! I agree with you.’

“Towards the end of the rally, a Zimbabwean lady came by and asked if she could take a picture with us. She mentioned that she and her husband were attending the conference, but that she personally was against abortion and her husband (a gynaecologist) was not actually in the business of abortion! It was a good lesson to us not to write off participants per se as sometimes there are circumstances which would place such people actually on our side! It was evident to us that we were also seen and heard by other conference participants.

“There was some opposition of course, but very little in comparison to the support we received. Several people drove past and made rude finger signs, which have become such knee-jerk responses from certain quarters. One woman walked by and having read our ‘Abortion offends God’ sign, said: ‘You offend me.’ A little while later, two young Malawian women engaged one of our party for a good while on the merits of being ‘pro-choice’, after which the respective parties parted ways agreeing to disagree. While our team member was talking with the two women, a man walked up and swore in his face and asked the women if they agreed that we should be thrown off the campus. It was pointed out that we were on a public intersection, after which the man swore again before walking away.

“The SABC was covering the conference and honed in on our banner and posters. They also conducted an interview with us, which was aired the following morning on SABC Morning Live.

“It must be abundantly clear that a lack of respect for the rights and life of the smallest, vulnerable and most defenceless inevitably seeps into the bigger culture and can only cheapen notions of the sanctity of life.

“The joy of publicly manifesting one’s rejection of the ‘culture of death’ and putting action to words was great! We were not many but we were there — standing up for the unborn and making a public act of reparation to Almighty God against a conference promoting those sins which cry out to Him for vengeance…

“One of the stated aims of the conference was to ‘destigmatise’, on the social, political and religious planes, easy and unfettered access to abortion – in other words to change mindsets, cultures, sensibilities; to numb consciences as to the awful reality constituting the ‘termination’ of life in the womb!

Encouraging reality
“The one encouraging reality is that seemingly, within our own country, our neighbours and indeed our continent (where the family institution is so strongly entrenched in the culture), there exists considerable and profound obstacles to ‘easy access’ – be these from governments, institutions, communities, nurses or doctors…

“Prior to the trip we had sent out an email to thousands of our friends and supporters and we felt palpably the presence of these who joined us in prayer and spirit.

“May this conference — which was very far-reaching in its goals, discussion and scope — goad us into a more spirited and energetic defence of the plight of the unborn. For this we need much courage, determination and prayer! May Almighty God have mercy on us for the violation of His precepts and may He give us the grace to grasp that life — all life, from conception to natural death — is sacred. Without adherence to this basic premise, society will only unravel, leading to total moral collapse and increasing disregard for life – already so clearly evident all around us!”

Peter Throp.

Peter Throp’s report
Peter Throp filed this report on his mission during which he — assisted by some volunteers — distributed 10 000 pro-life flyers.

“Dear pro-life brothers and sisters,

“I have returned home safely. I would like to share testimony as to my experience during the seven days visit to Grahamstown with the Holy Spirit.

“In November 2017 I was alerted to an evilness that was to be hosted in this community in the form of an international conference, namely ‘End abortion stigma now, unfinished revolution.’

“My observation and reflection is that this infiltration of the ‘death peddlers’ to promote a revolution in the destruction of innocent life, was repelled as it was not well attended.

“I had discerned with our Lord and prayed for guidance since being alerted, and the ‘pull’ to lift up the TRUTH was driven in me by the power of Almighty God. With my dear wife’s support, I left Cape Town for East London to include a visit to my sister, planning to arrive in Grahamstown in time for the 4 days of the conference, on the Saturday. As it happened, the ‘pull’ was so strong that my visit to family was cut short and I arrived in Grahamstown on the Wednesday, 3 days early, thus the pro-life message was present and viewed for a full 7 days.

“The Holy Spirit then brought me to divine meetings with some of His other sheep and now that they were aware of this demonised intrusion, I was privy to seeing the increase in prayer group activity including prayer for my wellbeing. One prayer warrior even made room for me at the ‘Inn’. Praise the lord.

“These prayer warriors were offended at the powers that had brought this evil to town. This prayer activity had power as the message ABORTION IS EVIL was the subject of attack by what is becoming known as intolerant liberals i.e. totalitarians. A local Facebook page was shut down after displaying 160 blasphemous comments. (See attached photo that was posted by someone on said Facebook).

“Shut down by the power of praise to our King.) A read of 2 Chronicles Chapter 32 could be beneficial to people of the Word. Take note of Verse 21. God will not be mocked !

“The age old truth is that ABORTION kills babies. These unique individual lives are all a gift from God made in His image. So is it so difficult for us to apply Genius 6:6 to our present day??

“In conclusion, I was graced to deliver a message and I believe that God has placed a warning on the good people of Grahamstown to raise up and be heard in their disgust that this intrusion of the secular death peddlers should be allowed to infiltrate their hamlet.

“I add that I was allowed to see the positive force of to “ EXPOSE LIES, LIFT UP TRUTH” by the direction of the Holy spirit and I am at a comfortable peace in hope.

Local helpers
A Grahamstown pastor, Buyisile Geelbooi, came to the support of Throp’s mission by helping to distribute several thousand flyers. Asked by Gateway News why he helped with the pro-life campaign he said: “The Bible instructed me.”

A Grahamstown businesswoman who also lent support to Throp — and who did not want her name to be published — had this to say: “I have been fighting this evil [abortion] for many years. I was so humbled by Peter’s passion for the cause. I have distributed most of the tracts and have placed some at the state clinic.

“The conference had one objective, and that is to give women more power to make a decision on their own behalf to terminate pregnancy. They do not believe life starts at conception, therefor the baby or foetus has no rights. I have not heard of many women claiming that they are pregnant with a foetus. Most of us say that we are pregnant and expecting a baby! This is very, very sad indeed.”

Leanne Kelly.

Leanne Kelly’s prayer report
Leanne Kelly, who has lived in Grahamstown for 16 years felt compelled to respond to the hosting of the international pro-abortion conference in the city. After considering the most appropriate and effective response, she decided to mobilise a group that would commit to sustained prayer throughout the conference period. This is her report: “I only heard about the conference the week before. It was obviously something that stirs one — especially because it was stated in the media brief that there would be no pro-life representation at all in the conference. It just seemed to me that the conference was a very one-sided affair. And Grahamstown really does pride itself in its liberalism, and is a town of boundary-pushing and boundary-defining — and boundary-destroying. Some of that is a good thing and some isn’t. Some boundaries shouldn’t be broken and when I read about this conference I thought about what the Christian response in the town should be.

“I know from living here a long time that the town has some measure of ‘protest fatigue’ — there are often protests here about all kinds of things…. It was also the university holiday period, meaning campus was going to be very quiet, meaning that any kind of a public protest was going to be even less effective. So in thinking about it, I knew that prayer is always the most effective thing we can do. It is also something we can do without our flesh getting in the way, so we don’t need to be defensive or retaliatory or reactive when we pray…

“So I sent a voice note out to friends who I know are serious about praying and feel the same about the issue of abortion…. I encouraged people to choose slots that spanned every day so we would be covering each day of the conference consistently….

Rebuilding walls
“One of the stories that God brought to mind as I was thinking about what to do was Nehemiah rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem after they had been broken down — and the responsibility placed on people to rebuild the section in front of their own home. And because this conference was happening in our town I felt it would be inexcusable not to take some responsibility for bringing it before God and interceding very intently about the issue.

“…I believe there was enough of a number gathered that it was an effective and a sincere prayer effort by some very unassuming, and humble and faithful saints…

“It was nice to have Peter Throp in town. It certainly raised a lot of hubbub on social media, The Grahamstown social media group was ringing with all kinds of things — most of it pretty insulting and awful, but for the most part I think the Christian responses on the group were good.

[Later when she felt the content of the threads were getting demeaning she reported it to the administrator who wisely removed them.] … Although one feels offended when one reads terribly blasphemous things on a thread like that, I think in the end I was feeling more fearful for the people who were saying them — realising they were speaking out of an incomplete knowledge and no personal revelation of the realness of Jesus. I really felt Jesus’prayer echo in my mind — ‘Father forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing.’ … I think we were just praying for mercy as well for those who were saying those things.

Spiritual impact
“It didn’t feel like a particularly noteworthy thing to me, but one just trusts that these things in the spiritual realm are more significant than we know. God has given us the gift of prayer and He has told us that our prayers avail much — the prayers of a righteous man. And because we understand our righteousness is wholly received from Jesus, we also stand in this amazing hope that our prayers avail much.

“So I really trust that those prayers were like sweet-smelling incense to our Father and they were effective in ways that we will only see one day in eternity — or maybe never see — but I think any acts of obedience and calling out to the one true authority is the most likely to bear fruit.”

Peter Throp of Value Life with his “pro-life mobile” which he plans to park in front of the upcoming pro-abortion conference in Grahamstown,

Africa Christian Action, a leading South African voice against abortion, reports on an international pro-abortion conference in Grahamstown from July 8 to 12, and calls on Christian pro-lifers to take a stand for life.

The conference website says the aim is to “equip attendees with skills to perform abortions, to offer abortion-related services, and to unhitch the social, cultural, and religious stigma that is attached to abortion.”

The conference is hosted by The Critical Studies in Sexualities and Reproduction, Rhodes University, the Sexual and Reproductive Justice Coalition (South Africa), and the International Campaign for Women’s Right to Safe Abortion, in partnership with the Department of Social Development (South African government) and a range of international partners.

The Conference website further describes their pro-death agenda: “This interdisciplinary conference aims to bring together researchers, activists, policy makers, health professionals, artists and performers, drawn from social policy, criminology, sociology, law and policy, human rights, women’s health and rights, medicine, psychology, history and the arts working for safe abortion from around the world. The conference will provide a platform for delegates to explore, identify, share and pursue learning and research opportunities on a range of issues relating to abortion and reproductive justice in context, including access to abortion, activism and abortion politics. The conference will significantly contribute to the vision of unfettered and universal access to safe abortion and reproductive justice for women the world over.”

Neither “safe”, nor a “choice”
Abortion is never safe – a helpless pre-born baby is killed and the mother is often physically, and always psychologically wounded (as numerous peer-reviewed studies on Post Abortion Syndrome testify). Other physical consequences of abortion include infections, a perforated uterus or a lacerated cervix. Abortion also increases a woman’s chance of contracting breast cancer later in life. The pre-born baby does not choose to die! The rhetoric of choice also hides the reality of coercion. Abortion is often someone else’s “choice.” 64% of American women who have had abortions felt pressured by others and this pressure is significant. A woman’s choice to keep her baby may involve loss of home, family or essential support, or abuse that can escalate to violence. Homicide is the leading killer of pregnant women.

Pro-lifers uphold the sanctity of life – that every life is valuable to God. We provide women with real choices (alternatives) and loving support, not just one choice – abortion – that pro-abortionists so often coerce women into choosing. Over 62 crisis pregnancy centres and mothers’ homes across the country help women to clearly think through all their options.

No Pro-lifers Invited
Sadly, but not unexpectedly, pro-life groups were not invited to give presentations at the conference. Perhaps members of the National Alliance for Life can present research, particularly of an academic nature, at future conferences as a vital witness to the right to life of the pre-born.

Peter Throp, from Value Life, plans to park his “pro-life mobile” (covered in pro-life slogans, Scripture verses and pictures) outside the conference venue. He has printed 20 000 of his own Expose Lies, Lift up Truth leaflets and will also be distributing hundreds of Africa Christian Action’s Abortion – The Facts leaflets to conference participants.

If any journalists are available to get a media pass to the conference to expose the pro-death and anti-woman agenda of the conference, this could also be helpful.

Annual prolife conference – National Alliance for Life – October 6
Pro-lifers are not on the back foot. We are continuing to fight for life and set our own agenda. Representatives from pro-life congregations and organisations in South Africa are invited to participate in the annual National Alliance for Life Conference which will be taking place on Saturday October 6 from 9am to 1pm in Durban. The following day there will be the National March for Life and International Life Chain Sunday.

The National Alliance for Life (NAL) is an umbrella body that was formed in 1995 and is the only body which represents all pro-life organisations and churches in South Africa. It was formed to create a platform for times where there is a need for pro-lifers in South Africa to plan and act together. It purposely does not have a constitution so as to allow very loose, non-rigid associations, within which each organisation and church group can maintain their own identity.

The purpose of the conference is for pro-lifers to share ideas and experiences, and to strategise together for the year ahead. This is followed by the National March for Life in Durban and life chains in different cities, the next day, Sunday October 7.

“California has offered no justification that the notice plausibly furthers. It targets speakers, not speech, and imposes an unduly burdensome disclosure requirement that will chill their protected speech.”

Thomas also wrote that the law not only forced pro-life centres to promote abortion, but to do so while diminishing their own message on pregnancy care.

“As California conceded at oral argument, a billboard for an unlicensed facility that says ‘Choose Life’ would have to surround that two-word statement with a 29-word statement from the government, in as many as 13 different languages,” continued Thomas.

“In this way, the unlicensed notice drowns out the facility’s own message. More likely, the ‘detail required’ by the unlicensed notice ‘effectively rules out’ the possibility of having such a billboard in the first place.”

Thomas was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, Justices Anthony Kennedy, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch. Justice Stephen Breyer wrote a dissent and was joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Elena Kagan.

In 2015, California passed Assembly Bill 775 or the FACT Act. The law mandated that all licensed pregnancy health centres, among other things, include a sign that refers patients to abortion clinics.

Failure to comply with the law could result in a $500 fine on the first offense and then a $1 000 fine for each offense thereafter.

In October 2015, the Alliance Defending Freedom filed a complaint in district court against California over the law on behalf of a few California-based pregnancy care centres.

In October 2016, a three judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law, agreeing with a lower court decision that the FACT Act “survives any level of scrutiny” and “does not discriminate based on viewpoint.”

“Instead, the Act applies to all licensed and unlicensed facilities, regardless of what, if any, objections they may have to certain family planning services,” read the Ninth Circuit opinion.

In March 2017, the ADF filed an appeal with the US Supreme Court. Last November, the high court agreed to hear the appeal, with oral arguments being held in March.

“Even if you are not pro-life, do you want the government setting up its own advertising mandates for non-profit organisations and then punishing any who disagree?” stated ADF CEO Michael Farris following oral arguments.

“The First Amendment does not allow the government to force you to speak its message. That’s especially true when you are pursuing a religious mission of simply providing resources and support to women free of charge.”

A recent Gallup poll shows most Americans are not in favor of abortion on demand. According to the survey, however, while “most do not favor an outright ban” on abortion, they do “want limits” on the practice.

The nationwide study, based on the results from more than 1,000 respondents throughout all 50 states, concludes that there is some movement on the pro-life front.

It seems to show that 53% of those surveyed believe abortion should only be allowed under certain circumstances.

Catherine Glenn Foster, who serves as the president and CEO of Americans United for Life, is encouraged by the numbers.

They show that the percentage of Americans who self-identify as “pro-life” has skyrocketed by 15% since the mid-1990s and now totals 48%. Meanwhile, the percentage of Americans who self-identify as “pro-choice” has plummeted by 8 percent to 48%, says Foster.

Another question asked in the probe is whether abortion is morally wrong.

The study shows that “by a slim five-percentage-point margin, 48-43%, Americans believe abortion is wrong from a moral perspective.”

Abby Johnson, president of And Then There Were None and author of Unplanned, is encouraged by the new findings.

“Abortion already has a stigma attached to it, as it should, because it ends at least one life and harms many others,” she told CBN News. “The majority of Americans recognise this, which is encouraging. If the culture continues to move in this direction, in the direction of realizing the destruction abortion causes, we will make abortion unthinkable.”

Johnson thinks she has the remedy for ending abortion in this country: “Loving those who work in the abortion industry and helping them to get out of it,” she said.

“I believe we will see the number of Americans who see abortion as morally wrong and choose to not support it go up,” she told CBN News.

The same study found also found that polygamy and married people having affairs was morally wrong, too.

Some 78% said they found “polygamy, when a married person has more than one spouse at the same time,” to be wrong while a whopping 88% felt that married people having extramarital affairs was wrong.

One out of four of those surveyed also found that suicide was morally wrong.

Overall, pro-life advocates are excited about the survey.

Foster added, “This shows us that the more Americans learn about abortion and get to the facts of the issue rather than the often-overwrought and polemic political rhetoric that surrounds it, the more life-affirming their positions become. And that is news we can all celebrate!”

As for abortion, Johnson is hopeful the country’s loss of some 60 million pre-born babies will be a wake-up call for America.

Johnson, who worked in the abortion industry for eight years and who witnessed a baby in the womb fighting for its life, thinks “abortion will end in this nation and it will end through love.”

On her website, she adds, “The most important thing to know is that I believe in forgiveness, mercy, and redemption. No one is beyond the amazing power of Christ and His love.”

Pro-life groups in Ireland say they’ll regroup and keep fighting to defend unborn children as the battle shifts to rearguard action after Friday’s majority vote for legal abortion.

Nearly 66% of a 64% turnout of Irish citizens voted to repeal the country’s Eighth Amendment, which recognises the unborn child’s right to life, in a result pro-life leaders described as tragic and heartbreaking.

Health Minister Simon Harris said after Saturday’s vote count he would ask for cabinet approval as early as Tuesday to turn the government’s draft law into a proposed legislative text, the Guardian reported.

Harris said he’s hoping to bring in legislation on abortion in “early autumn” and Irish Prime Minister, or Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, said the law will change within six months to allow abortion.

Holding the Prime Minister to his promise
“We will hold the Taoiseach to his promise that repeal would only lead to abortion in very restrictive circumstances,” countered Dr Ruth Cullen, spokesperson of the LoveBoth campaign, on Saturday.

“He gave his word on this, now he must deliver on it. No doubt many people voted for repeal based on the Taoiseach’s promises in this regard,” said Cullen, as quoted in the Irish Catholic.

Pro-life activist Cora Sherlock, deputy chair of the Pro-life Campaign, reiterated in a tweet the day before the referendum that the government was proposing unrestricted abortion.

“Tomorrow’s vote is about abortion on demand. It’s not restrictive, it’s not limited. A vote for repeal would introduce abortion laws more extreme than the law in Britain where 1 in 5 babies are lost to abortion,” she noted.

She tweeted Saturday the fight wasn’t over.

Today is a sad day for Ireland and for people who believe in genuine human rights. The struggle to defend the most vulnerable has not ended today, it’s just changed. Thank you to all the incredible people who worked so hard to protect women and save babies. We fight on. #8thref

“I will accept the will of the Irish people, at the same time I will make it very clear what I feel of the campaign that has taken place,” she said. “We will now regroup and find out what our next move is.”

What the draft law allows
The government’s draft law will allow abortion on demand in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, after a three-day waiting period, according to the Guardian.

The proposed law permits abortion after the 12th week on the grounds of alleged risk to the mother’s life or “serious risk” to her health, or for alleged fatal foetal abnormality, and with approval by two doctors.

It will restrict abortion after 24 weeks of pregnancy but allow it at any stage for alleged fatal foetal abnormality.

“We will oppose that legislation,” John McGuirk of Save the 8th campaign noted in a statement Saturday. “If and when abortion clinics are opened in Ireland, because of the inability of the government to keep their promise about a GP-led service, we will oppose that as well.”

Irish-American founder Chris Slattery of the New York-based Expectant Mothers Care, urged pro-life advocates in Ireland to launch “alternative to abortion” centres aimed at those with unplanned pregnancies, reported the Irish Times.

“Pro-life outreach” to expectant mothers is needed in Ireland given the “now, inevitable, upcoming launch of abortion facilities, sooner or later,” said Slattery, who travelled to Dublin to campaign to save the amendment.

“So now, what they have decided is that the stronger have the right to take the life of the weaker. At least 33% of the country got it right. Just because the majority who voted say that murdering the unborn should be legal, doesn’t mean that it’s right. Just because the Hutus in Rwanda had a majority and wanted to kill all the Tutsis, that doesn’t make it right. For many years in the United States, the majority thought slavery was okay and should be legal, but that doesn’t make it right. No matter what country you live in, everyone needs to remember that you will stand before God one day and give an account for your actions — and it may be sooner than later.”

Human Life International Ireland described the referendum as “a day when we, as a nation, have rejected God by rejecting the unborn children He will gift us with — little ones, made in His image and likeness,” in a Saturday statement from executive director Patrick McCrystal.

The Knock-based affiliate of American Human Life International is going to “tackle the roots of the crisis” by educating people on the “eternal, unchanging and liberating truths of the Catholic faith,” beginning with a conference on Humanae Vitae in Dublin this summer.

“There has been an unprecedented amount of prayer and fasting in the build-up to this moment from the remnant of the faithful in this country, and around the world. We have repented. We have wept for the sins of our people, and we are convinced that the Lord has heard our prayers,” McCrystal wrote.

“We must endure this pain as a purification for our collective sins and then we must step forward in total faith that the Lord will rescue His beloved people. Following the crucifixion is the resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit,” he added.